This post covers our three days in Killarney, Ireland. If you remember from my last post, “Kil” is derived from the Gaelic word “Cill,” or church. That means Killarney is another place named after a church. In this case, Killarney is derived from the Gaelic words “Cill Airne”, which means “church of sloes.” Sloes are a type of fruit that grow on sloes, also known as blackthorn. A sloes or blackthorn is a species of flowering plant in the rose family. These is no specific information as to how the town got that name, so don’t ask. So now we all know what it means, just not why.
Day 7
We got up, had breakfast at our place, so obviously there were no screaming or crying children, and hit the road for our hour or so drive to The Rock of Cashel. In keeping with map programs sending me on wild courses, our GPS decided to take us on a short cut down a road that was only one car wide, and looked like it hadn’t been used in a few weeks. See for yourself.
Luckily, we were only on that road for a few kilometers (miles). And we didn’t see another car. We continued on to our goal, the Rock of Cashel. Here is some information about the “Rock” from the internet.
The Rock of Cashel is located on a limestone hill in the city of Cashel. Even though the site is over 1,800 years old, few remnants of the early structures survive. The majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries. It is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by Saint Patrick in the 5th century. In 1101, the King of Munster donated his fortress on the Rock to the church. The site is the ruins of a castle with a restored chapel (Cormac’s) and cathedral. Cormac’s Chapel was begun in 1127 and consecrated in 1134. The chapel was constructed primarily of sandstone which has become waterlogged over the centuries, significantly damaging the interior frescoes. Restoration and preservation required the chapel be completely enclosed in a rain-proof structure with interior dehumidifiers to dry out the stone. The chapel’s restoration continues to this day. The Cathedral was built between 1235 and 1270. It was restored in 1975.
There is no parking at the actual site of the Rock of Cashel, so you park in town and walk. We found a public parking lot and started our mile long trek to the “Rock.” Here are some pictures from the town.
As you approach the bottom of the hill beneath the “Rock,” it looms over you.
As we walked up the hill to the entrance, it started to lightly rain. We were prepared with rain coats and umbrellas. And the rain did not stop the tours. They have a general tour that we booked online, and on site you can add a tour of the chapel. There was a line and a wait for the chapel tour, so we passed and went straight to our regular tour, which would all be outside.
Our tour guide had a great sense of humor and an amazing knowledge of the site. He told us about Ireland’s two seasons; winter and June. Here are some more pictures from our tour.
There were grave sites all around the back of the ruins. And the weather went crazy as well. There were strong cold winds that led to moderate rain, followed by partly cloudy skies, back to rain, and so on.
It was amazing to realize how much of what we saw was well over 1,000 years old. This is an absolutely must visit, so use the link below. We were sorry to have missed the chapel tour, but we were wet and cold, and it was starting to rain again, and it was time to move on. We walked into town and had lunch at O’Neill’s Restaurant. It was warm, dry, and had food, so it was the perfect stop.
I had the bacon and cabbage special. It came with French fries and mashed potatoes, or mash as they are called. It was all pretty darn good. Cindy and Sylvia each had some vegetable soup with the hearty brown bread. They liked their meal as well.
If O’Neill’s had a website, they would have earned a link. Since they don’t, I can only recommend you visit there. We walked around the town of Cashel, did some sightseeing and shopping, then it was off to our hotel in Killarney. We stayed at the Old Weir Lodge, right on the edge of town.
We were in the Oyster Room, which is apparently the same room the seven dwarfs stay in.
The hotel was nice, the staff were helpful, and they had a free breakfast in the morning. Would there be screaming children? We will find out later in the post. First, we had to walk a short distance and cross the street to Kayne’s, the closest restaurant to us.
We started with our adult beverages.
I had the breaded lemon sole, Cindy had a breaded chicken covered in yard clippings served over potatoes, and Sylvia had a shrimp soup type of dish.
All of the meals were very good, but not quite good enough for a link. After our meal, we returned to our lodge and turned in for the night.
Day 8
We were up and off to our free breakfast, complete with a screaming child. Oh yea.
Then we were off to visit Blarney Castle, home of the famous blarney kissing stone. In the tenth century, the site was home to a wooden hunting lodge. In 1210, the wooden building was replaced with a stone one. The current castle (now mostly ruins) was built in 1446 by the MacCarthy Clan. In the 1690s, the 4th Earl of Clancarty (named Donough MacCarty) was captured, and his lands (including Blarney Castle) were confiscated by the Williamites. The castle and surrounding lands changed hands several times after that. At the top of the castle lies the Stone of Eloquence, better known as the Blarney Stone. Tourists visiting the castle may hang upside-down over a sheer drop to kiss the stone, which is said to give the gift of eloquence, or the gift of gab. There are many versions of the origin of the stone, some I will cover a little later in the post. The grounds around the castle and the castle views were exceptional.
Maybe now I’ll get some peace and quiet.
And a few shots from inside the castle.
Here is some information about the castle and the stone.
Prior to our arrival at the castle, everything we had read said there is usually a long wait to kiss the blarney stone. The wait could be as long as two hours. Because we had arrived at the castle pretty early, there was a very short line, so we jumped right in. You had to go up a winding staircase to the top of the castle. The staircase was designed as a defensive one more than as something to take you to the higher floors. It was narrow and got narrower as you ascended the stairs. It allowed for only one person to ascend at a time. This would put a defender above an attacker, swinging and stabbing down. Once the attacker was injured or killed, they would fall backward and slow the person behind them. Also, the steps were of irregular sizes. This made it very difficult to go up the stairs quickly. Here we are going up the stairs.
Once at the top, we had some amazing views as we made our way toward the blarney stone.
Along the wall leading to the blarney stone, were several different plaques telling different stories about the stone. Here are three of the stories.
At the actual stone, you have to lay on your back and bend your neck way back as you held onto to a pair of metal support bars. An employee helped move you to the stone at the bottom of the wall. There are some metal safety bars to prevent you from falling, but you can see the approximate 75 feet down to the ground. Sylvia is very afraid of heights and when it was her turn, she started to freeze up before she could be assisted to the stone. I told her to hurry and lay down and let the employee help her. She didn’t have time to think about it and just did it. Here she is after a successful smooch of the blarney stone. Look to her left and you can see all the way down to the ground.
Then it was Cindy’s turn. She had no problem getting her blarney stone kiss.
As you can see from the pictures, there was no way I would be able to get into the position that was necessary to kiss the stone. That was fine with me as I already have the gift of gab and I didn’t leave there in pain. We had waited less than half an hour in line, there were no screaming children, and it did not rain on us once during that time. The blarney stone was truly a great experience for all three of us. Here we are right after all of the rock kissing.
We walked back down the stairs and looked up to where the blarney stones was.
We then toured some of the surrounding gardens, buildings, and art.
Just to the northeast of the castle, are the Seven Sisters. It is a circle of nine standing stones, two of which have fallen. The legend is that in medieval times, a chieftain who had two young sons and seven daughters. When the chieftain took his sons on their first battle, the chieftain was victorious in the battle, but at great cost: both his sons were killed. Returning to his castle with his troops and the bodies of his sons, he stopped at nine standing stones. To mark the death of his sons, the grieving chieftain ordered his men to knock over two of the stones. And that is how the circle of stones remains to this day.
The gardens and art were enjoyable, until it started to rain. Then it was time to exit stage right and head off to downtown Cork, a short drive away. It changed to a misty rain as we arrived in downtown Cork, which allowed us to walk around and visit the English Market. The English Market has been in continuous operation since 1788. It had a variety of shops from butchers, cheese, an olive store, bakery, clothing, and the list went on and on. Here are some of the streets surrounding the English Market.
And the entrance.
This is a very interesting place and worth the visit. So, I have included a link in the usual place. After our visit, we had lunch at the White Rabbit Deli and Foodstore.
We had to try the White Rabbit because their sandwich board in front of their business boasted of their “proper sandwiches.” I don’t know about you, but I have always wanted to try a “proper sandwich.” This was apparently the place to make that happen.
Here is my “proper sandwich.”
It was basically a meat panini. The sandwich was fine, but I will question as to how “proper” it was. After lunch, we drove back to our hotel, got ready for dinner, and walked a little less than a kilometer (about 1/2 a mile) to the Druids restaurant inside the Killarney Avenue Hotel.
This is a really nice place to eat. It was a little pricey, but worth every penny. Our server was from Poland and was very friendly and interesting. Cindy had a grilled chicken dinner (not pictured), Sylvia had a shrimp and prosciutto dish that was amazing, and I had a white fish covered in a mango salsa on some mashed potatoes that was just the bomb.
If you feel like splurging on a spectacular dinner, this is the place. So, it earned a coveted link that is at the end of this post. On our walk back to our hotel, the skies opened up on us. Not a problem, we all had umbrellas and picked up the pace. Not to be outdone, the weather threw some really strong winds at us, causing a sideways rain. And causing Sylvia’s umbrella to turn inside out. By the time we were back at our hotel, we were soaking wet. We were so wet, we had to have our clothes sent out to the laundry so they could be washed and dried. We didn’t really need the washing part; we just needed the drying part. Unfortunately, it was both or nothing.
Day 9
This entire day was devoted to visiting the Ring of Kerry. So, what is the Ring of Kerry? It is a 179km (111 miles) circular route around the Iveragh Peninsula in southwestern Ireland on the west coast. It goes through the towns of Killarney, Beaufort, Killorglin, Glenbeigh, Cahersiveen, Waterville, Caherdaniel, Sneem, and Kenmore. It’s often a narrow, winding route that, with only brief stops, typically takes a day to drive. From our many internet searches, we learned everyone does the ring counterclockwise. Even the tour companies. It was recommended several times to do it clockwise for less crowded stops. We will see. Here is a map of the Ring of Kerry. We started and ended in Killarney.
Prior to starting our drive, I had to get some petrol at the gas station across the street from our hotel. There was an outdoor laundromat in the parking lot. Who would have guessed. We could have used only the dryer if we didn’t mind sitting around for an hour.
Yes, that is real, unedited picture and yes, it was located in the parking lot of the gas station. Once we had a full tank and the knowledge of parking lot laundry, we were off. Our first stop was at a roadside abandoned church like building next to a bridge over a beautiful river.
There was no information about the building, but it looked old and cool. The only thing in the area was a really creepy picture leaning on some rocks near the building.
I have no idea what the picture was or what it meant, but have had nightmares less creepy than that picture. We continued on, looking for a spot called, “Ladies View.” The legend is back in 1861, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert came to visit the region by horse and carriage, accompanied by her ladies-in-waiting. While on their way to Muckross House, where they were staying as guests, the Queen and her companions decided to stop for a picnic there. It’s said that the group were so stricken by the view, that it was named after them. We obviously had to visit this site. As we drove down the road, there was a sign with an arrow pointing to the left that said the Ladies View was one kilometer away. The arrow pointed toward a trail that went up a hill next to a parking lot. Clearly, you had to hike a kilometer (.62 of a mile) up the hill to see what all the hubbub was about. We parked and headed up the trail.
We made it about a half a mile up the hill with no “view” in sight, when it started to rain. This was our clue to return to the car, disappointed we missed what was sure to be an amazing view. We drove about a kilometer up the road and came to the real “Ladies View.” Apparently, the first location was some sort of Irish joke played upon gullible travelers. The second location had amazing views.
There was even a place for leprechauns to cross the road to take in the view. Clearly proof that leprechauns exist.
As we returned to our rental car, I reached to open the door and a woman sitting by us yelled at me, “Don’t touch my car.” I stepped back and felt really bad that such a small error on my part so upset this woman. I looked around and realized I WAS standing next to OUR rental car and this woman was a nut. I held up my car keys and pressed the door unlock button, causing the headlights to flash. I looked at the woman, expecting an apology, but nothing until her friend made a joke about all of the cars looking the same. We got into our car and continued to Kenmare, where we walked around the town and had lunch.
We walked past a police station. In Ireland, the police are called the “Garda.”
We had lunch at the pub inside O’Donnabhain’s Bar and Restaurant, and Bed and Breakfast, and Beer Garden. The food was average pub food, so clearly no link. Maybe if they had less names and more cooks the food would have been better.
Our next stop was the town with my favorite name, Sneem. According to the internet, the town’s name comes from the Irish name for Sneem, An tSnaidhm (common spelling), which translates to “the knot.” There are a number of theories as to how the name came about. The most common explanation is that the town consists of a north and south square, linked together by a small bridge over the river. When seen from above, the bridge serves as the knot that ties the town together. That’s good enough for me. On the drive to Sneem, we passed a few tour vans, but no tour busses. And there was no rain to this point, so bully for us. Our first stop in Sneem was at St. Michael’s Church. In the early 1800’s, the site was home to a very small church, with only a mud floor and no pews. In 1865, the current church was completed and opened by the then Bishop of Kerry, David Moriarty.
Once we knew where the fairies went, we continued our tour of Sneem. In town, we encountered one tour bus, but the city was not the least bit crowded.
From Sneem, it was off to Caherdaniel for a quick stop to see the coastline. By this point, the traffic was increasing with more tour vans, but very few tour busses. This made the driving less stressful on the tiny back country roads.
We forged ahead toward our next stop in Keel. It was to visit the Skelligs Chocolate Factory. What could be better than that? The scenery was so beautiful, we made several stops along the way to take pictures.
I’m sure you noticed the sheep had a blue color on their back sides. We were told this is how the shepherds mark their flock. They use different colors on a different part of the sheep. Sort of like a brand on cattle, only the color washes off so the wool is not ruined. And you should have also noticed we deviated slightly from the actual “Ring of Kerry” route. This was a good thing as there was less traffic and very few tour vehicles.
The chocolate factory was not crowded at all, so there may be something to driving the ring clockwise. At the chocolate factory, there wasn’t a tour, you just walked around and saw a lot of their equipment out where it was easy to see. We were able to do a chocolate tasting, and the chocolate was so good, of course we had to buy some. Do we recommend a stop here? Well, do you like tasting free chocolate? If the answer is yes, then use the link at the end of this post. Use it now! As we left the chocolate factory against our collective wills, the drive started to get very interesting. We had to drive up a very tall hill (it was not a mountain by our standards), on a narrow switchback road with cars and tour vans passing us going the opposite direction. Our goal was the top called, “Cum an Easpaig” or cliff view. It was worth the scary drive. Barely.
See if you notice anything different about this picture.
Yes, unfortunately my eyes are closed in a picture. So, in all fairness, I had to have the googly eyes punishment.
We started down the tall hill and now we had finally caught up with several tour busses going the other way. Just more fun on a narrow country road as we headed to the Kerry Cliffs. The Kerry Cliffs overlook the Atlantic Ocean, raise to a height of over 1,000 feet, and are over 400 million years old. At the site, you have to pay to park, and walk about a quarter of a mile to the actual cliffs. On the walk we passed llamas, donkeys, and some stone domed hut looking things that may have been used to store grain. The cliffs themselves are amazing and worth the cost to park and the short walk. This is a must visit, so yes, there is a link.
Truely amazing. We had seen everything we had set out to see and it started to rain. We headed back toward our hotel and this was a brutal drive. It poured for most of the drive, the roads were too narrow, there were huge vehicles driving toward you at full speed and barely missing your side view mirrors, and some road construction was thrown in to make the terror complete. When we arrived at our hotel, 2 1/2 hours later, we were all beat. We walked across the street and ate at Kayne’s again. The meal was very good and we returned to our hotel for a great night’s rest. And in case you have not been counting, it rained on 8 of the 9 days we had been in Ireland. If you are thinking of traveling there, be prepared for rain so you can enjoy your trip as much as we had to this point.
The next post will cover our last five days in Ireland. Stay dry until then.
LINKS